Talkin’ ’bout MY(?) Generation

By birthright, I am the product of the Builders generation. They grew up during the Depression, went off to (or felt the effects of) WWII in their teen years, and brought remarkable recovery to our country through their work ethic and sacrifice. They knew how to work hard to conserve. And by that definition, they were quite conservative. They were also good rule makers. They knew they’d earned enough respect to be. I’m going to claim the right for them to be called the “Follow Me” generation.

If by birthright, I belonged to the Builders, my heart (or at least my curiosity) followed the Boomers. I was a late-life child, so I had three older siblings who were part of the Baby Boomer generation. They were born into that time of our country’s prosperity. Their generation had a little more time on their hands – time to shake their hips to Elvis while developing a liberal dose of attitude. If the Builders were rule makers, the Boomers tried to be rule breakers. They worked for the means to be heard. By their sheer numbers, alone, they demanded to have a voice and demanded to use resources that had previously been conserved – sometimes to good advantage, other times, not so much. They were both lovers & fighters, always in a struggle for something they were still working to define. I call them the “Hear Me” (or maybe “Feel Me, Free Me”) generation.

I came along as a Gen-X-er, or part of Generation X. That’s cool if you’re one of the X-Men, I suppose. Otherwise, you’re just classified as a rebel without a cause a large part of the time. We really weren’t about bucking authority. We just mostly liked to fight it in our songs. We were hard rock meets Madonna, which is probably why Botox seemed sensible. You get the picture (frightening as it may be). Our real problem was that we were confused about what the X actually was. It made us feel like some strange, unsolvable algebraic equation. Now, we’re just a bunch of cool cynics. Just call us the “Show Me” generation.

Generation Y comes behind us, grabbing up my older sons in their wake. This bunch is often referred to as the “Me Now” generation. I’ve changed that to the “See Me” generation. It’s not really their fault they have a narcissistic tendency. Even before all their BFF’s showed up on reality TV, home videos were big when they were growing up. I’m pretty sure this generation figured out how to take selfies long before they had digital cameras built into their phones or a Facebook page to display them. They had to. They figured their parents, who worked all the time, wouldn’t see them grow up otherwise. Relax. I think Wall Street may have more to do with their me-attitudes than their parents or the iPhone. Otherwise, we’ll all have to admit that they’re protesting us.

(People have a little trouble agreeing about the separation between Ys & Zs. It always takes many years out for generational divisions to become more obvious. Y’s didn’t even last until Y2K. The Z’s were the cross-overs. So I’m calling for a re-vote on the Millenial name.)

In my humble opinion (okay, it’s not), Generation Z should be re-framed as Millenials (not Millenialists, mind you), since they showed up around the turn of the century (and, even upon their arrival, the world didn’t end). Communication certainly took a turn though (for better or worse? depends on who you talk to – and whether it’s through social media), with the overwhelming addition of personal technology for every BODY. Despite having their own phones at the age of…2-1/2, this group is supposedly part of an attitude shift back towards responsibility (since a long-lasting downturn in economy strangely corresponds to either a crime wave or an upturn in responsibility). My youngest son falls in there – except for the criminal part. If this group stays on track, I might rename them the “Be Me” generation.

The little Alphas are just coming onto the scene (leaders of the pack – ?? – currently trailing behind the rest of us) – and there’s apparently going to be a large number of them. (I guess when there’s no money to go out on the town, couples find other ways to be entertained.) They’re the ones who are really going to Shake, Rattle, & Roll (or maybe that’s what they’re doing now). I think the Alphas are scheduled to begin primary school by 6 months of age and apparently will be working by age 9 to begin replenishing our Social Security deficit. So I’ll just call them the “Bite Me” generation. (You know, because they’re still teething. What were you thinking?)

Looking at generational profiles is like looking at a horoscope. Sure, you’ll find some generalizations that sound like you. Yet, despite a warped world trying to cause us to become unglued so it can then remold us…in the end, we’re responsible for our own choices of who we’re going to be.

As for me, I’m dumping the X-Generation & heading into the Next Generation. (Yeah, um, that was an enterprising Star Trek pun – or two.)

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